Old Mission Beach Athletic Club Rugby Football Club is a

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

team based in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

. OMBAC RFC is directly affiliated with the Old Mission Beach Athletic Club. The rugby team plays at

The Little Q Rugby Field San Diego Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium on the west coast of the United States, in San Diego, California. The stadium opened in 1967 as San Diego Stadium and was known as Jack Murphy Stadium from 1981 to 1997. From 1997 to 2017, the stadium ...

, adjacent to

Qualcomm Stadium San Diego Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium on the west coast of the United States, in San Diego, California. The stadium opened in 1967 as San Diego Stadium and was known as Jack Murphy Stadium from 1981 to 1997. From 1997 to 2017, the stadiu ...

(hence the name).

History

The Old Mission Beach rugby club was established in 1966 under the wing of Old Mission Beach Athletic Club (OMBAC) which was founded in 1954. Many past students of the San Diego State University rugby team joined, and the OMBAC rugby club entered first division competition two years later in 1968. The club has won 6 national Rugby Sevens titles and 8 national Rugby Fifteens titles.

Venue

In 1991 OMBAC raised funds to build a new clubhouse joining only a handful of teams in the United States to have such a facility. Currently OMBAC plays its home matches at the "Little Q". This site was previously the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...

practice facility. It is now a nationally renowned rugby pitch that has hosted the USARFU National Championships, the USA Eagle NA4 developmental matches, and a host of other youth and collegiate matches.

Current 1st XV squad

Players in bold are internationally capped.

Notable former players

OMBAC players Mike Saunders, Brian Vizard, Kevin Higgins, Steve Gray, Chris Lippert and more recently,

Dan Lyle Daniel Joseph Lyle (born September 28, 1970) is an American former rugby union player who played for the United States national rugby union team 45 times from 1994 to 2003, serving as U.S. captain in 24 of those matches. Lyle played number eigh ...

, and Dave Hodges, have captained the

United States national rugby union team The United States men's national rugby union team represents the United States in men's international rugby union. Nicknamed the Eagles, it is controlled by USA Rugby, the national governing body for the sport of rugby union in the United Stat ...

in international competition. OMBAC was represented in the 2007 Rugby World Cup by team members

Todd Clever Todd Stanger Clever (born January 16, 1983) is an American retired rugby union player. He became the first American to play Super Rugby. At the international level, he was a member of the United States national team, served as captain, and is t ...

Tui Osborne Andrew Osborne (born 4 March 1981 in Fiji) was a Fijian-born United States rugby union player. His playing position was fullback. He was selected as a reserve for the United States at the 2007 Rugby World Cup The 2007 Rugby World Cup was t ...

and

Dan Payne Daniel Payne (born August 4, 1972) is a Canadian actor best known for playing the role of John in the television series '' Alice, I Think''. Career In his early 20s, Payne was a professional volleyball player. After his retirement, he was convin ...

. Former OMBAC player Will Hafu has played internationally for Tonga and also played professionally in England for

Moseley RFC Birmingham Moseley Rugby Club is an English rugby union club, based in Birmingham, that compete in the third tier of English rugby. They were historically the premier rugby club in Birmingham, reaching the final of the John Player Cup three ti ...

National Championships

OMBAC Rugby has distinguished itself with the following accomplishments: *2010 U.S.A. D3 National Champions *2006 Rugby Super League Champions *1996 U.S.A. National Champions *1994 U.S.A. National Champions *1993 U.S.A. National Champions *1991 U.S.A. National Champions *1989 U.S.A. National Champions *1988 U.S.A. National Champions

National 7s

*2006 U.S.A. 7s National Champions *2002 U.S.A. 7s National Champions *2001 U.S.A. 7s National Champions *2000 U.S.A. 7s National Champions *1995 U.S.A. 7s National Champions *1985 U.S.A. 7s National Champions

National Placement

*2014 Pacific Rugby Premiership Third place *2003 Super League Runners-Up *2002 Super League Semi-Finalists *2001 Super League Runners-Up *2000 Super League Semi-Finalists *2000 Third Place U.S.A. National Club Championships *1997 Third Place U.S.A. National Club Championships *1995 Runners-Up U.S.A. National Club Championships *1996 Runners-Up U.S.A. 7s National Club Championship

First XV Honors

This is a list of honors awarded to the OMBAC

team. *

USA Rugby USA Rugby (officially the United States of America Rugby Football Union, Ltd.) is the national governing body for the sport of rugby union in the United States. Its role is to achieve and maintain “high levels of quality in all aspects of rugb ...

Division I Champions - 1988, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1996 **Second place - 1995 **Third place - 1997, 2000 *

National Club Sevens Champions - 1985, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2006 **Second place - 1996, 2005, 2007 **Third place - 1997 *

Division III Champions - 2010 * Rugby Super League Championship **First place - 2006 **Second place - 2001, 2003 **Fourth place - 2000, 2002

Sponsorship

OMBAC Rugby's sponsors for the 2014 Pacific Rugby Premiership are the following:Official OMBAC Sponsors
/ref> *Community sponsor - Turner construction company *Social sponsor - The beachcomber mission beach *Event sponsor - The Tilted Kilt mission valley *Kit sponsor - Canterbury

References

External links

Official SiteUSA RugbyIron Fist Athletic
{{DEFAULTSORT:Old Mission Beach Athletic Club Rfc Rugby union teams in San Diego Rugby clubs established in 1966 1966 establishments in California